~ surrender to yourself

In My Kitchen – June 2014

This little family is growing. It seemed the original two on the left, wanted a sibling. Can you see the family resemblance? If we find space in the cup cupboard, we may have to add a fourth.

Also, this month, there was an unexpected guest that came calling around dinner time.

I saw him, from my kitchen window but didn’t invite him to tea…inhospitable though it may seem. A deadly Western Brown snake may not eat much, but they can certainly ruin a meal!

Trapped in the top of the spa cover

This was a baby, but they are still deadly. The snake handler came and captured it, to be released out bush. We’ve had a few of them over the years, the largest of which was IN the house. We are grateful for good snake handling services here.

Most of the kitchen activities at the moment are focused around a food elimination diet I’ve needed to pursue. Don’t the food Gods know I’m part of the IMK group and still need to eat well?? A challenge is usually a good thing, and my challenge has been to enjoy life and eat well, despite the elimination program. A recent post explains a little further, if you care to read here.

soaking blanched almonds

It’s not my first brush with food tolerance issues, so I do have some skills in this area. Keeping one’s diet simple and pure is really the challenge. Being able to make things like almond milk, to replace dairy, and mayonnaise to replace the store bought one, have both been necessary. Though the first almond milk recipe was rather ghastly, I learned an important thing. When you soak the blanched almonds, drain and rinse them. Don’t be tempted to use the water in which they’ve soaked to make the milk. Bleah. The recipe said to do this and even when I used bottled water the taste was still rather bitter. That’s because the bitterness leaches out of the almonds when you soak them. Duh. The stuff nearly drove me to quit drinking coffee–but I’m stubbornly holding on to my one cup a day! The recipe I later adopted and slightly modified to my liking is here. It doesn’t moo, but it’s not bad.

Tuna with homemade mayo and wasabi paste

The mayonnaise was such a fast and magical creation I forgot to photograph the process, but I have just learned that Celia has a very similar recipe and post, complete with photos, so I will refer you back to her for that one. It sure beats the old, laborious way of making mayonnaise! Who thinks up these things? Home cooks like us??

Avo n eggs

Walnuts, almonds, macadamias

‘ave an Avo!

While leaving out a number of entire food groups it is wise to pay careful attention to the intake of whole food fats, as well as healthy vegetables and proteins. So we consume nuts. Such a burden, but someone has to keep the nut industry healthy. We do our part. I like to spread the support around, so I help the avocado industry as well.

I love paté, and, made properly, it is good for you; but I can’t eat the commercially prepared ones so I bought chicken livers and made my own. So nice! We had a ‘deli dinner’ one evening, with homemade paté.

Gelatinised bone broth

Our wonderful butcher who provides grass fed beef loves to cut anything to suit your needs, so we had the most delicious slow cooked beef ribs you can imagine. And the neck bones they had made a delicious bone broth— look at that gelatine! (very good for the tummy!)

Crock pot Chicken

My favourite stewed, slow cooked chicken has been on the menu twice. Organic, free range chicken is just so tender and delicious. I use the broth to make vegetable soup, and put a few pieces of chicken in the top of it for a delicious and nutritious autumn meal.

Grilled salmon and broccoli

Pssssst, you have to promise not to tell anyone… I’m sharing with you my very special secret to cooking salmon fillets on the grill. Fresh salmon with stir-fried or steamed vegetables is one of our favourite meals. Thanks for stopping by.

Life is good. And Celia’s monthly hosting of In My Kitchen posts, makes it better. Have a look here at some of the other kitchens around the world.

We love bone broth! We are seeing a lot of snakes around this year and even though I do not appreciate being surprised by them, I do respect them – unless of course they’re a copperhead or a chicken egg thief!!

Yikes!! A snake.Would have just freaked me out. I’ve only seen one since I moved here and that was on Rottnest Island. That was enough for me. Your mugs are beautiful. I’m sure it makes enjoying a hot bevvy very enjoyable. They look like they would be good soup mugs too! And I have to say, even though you are going through food a food elimination diet, you sure have beautiful food on your plate. Great colors! Thank you for sharing!

I love your work 🙂 It’s like seeing a very accomplished version of my own diet… Once again we are on the same page… I have a scrambled-omelette with mushrooms, spinach/kale and avocado for breakfast sometimes with a little goats cheese; good tinned tuna & salad with a very small amount of organic brown rice for lunch sometimes with avocado or bocconcini. Nuts are our go-to snack. And we love deli dinners. Maybe if I make homemade pate the G.O. will eat it. I’ve been planning to attempt a terrine. And we like crockpot chicken – I’ll try your version as for mine the chicken is massaged with butter, but is delicious.
I made chicken stock from the remains of a roast a few weeks ago – I must try the gelatinised bone broth.
The mayo looks great, so great I’m afraid I would eat it with a spoon if I made it.
I was thinking with the still-warm weather there would be snakes around, and there’s the evidence. I’m getting better about snakes – green & black ones anyway, but the browns still freak me out.
And when I see your cups I think of the photos of your kitchen, and your location, and they go very nicely.

Thanks for the tip on makin almond milk- Ive been thinking about doing that this week. Will try your recipe! Also I love a good pate and your salmon looks amazing too x Thanks for sharing your kitchen!

Wow, so many good things in your kitchen… the snake is scary! The gelatinised bone broth is AMAZING! And best wishes with the eating plan. Been there done that, felt a whole lot better… must go back to it!

Yes, the snake was scary, if small. People here die from bites from small brown snakes, so one needs to be careful. This is my third major elimination diet in about twenty years. Unfortunately I constantly need to tweak things as my body ages and changes. I have always found them useful, the ‘fixes’ just aren’t permanent. Thank you for the compliments on the bone broth, I was rather proud of that!

I, too, wonder what can be done with the pulp. I’ve tried drying it on a baking sheet but the resulting meal tasted like chalk dust to me. Because of the soaking and removal of the oil and flavour for the milk, I am doubtful much can be done with it. Have heard of people using it in place of almond meal, but I remain unconvinced!

Ardys, it’s definitely a challenge you’re winning rather than a burden when you get to eat such wonderful food even on a restricted diet! All power to you! Thanks for the mayo linky – such a clever recipe (full credit to Annabel Langbein for it). And that gelatine looks AMAZING. But oh dear, snake? Scary snake at that? Do take care.. xxx

Thanks Celia. Yes, the elimination diet has been a challenge. Am into the reintroduction phase now, which is tedious, but must be followed to get good results. Love that method of making mayo. The version I saw was on YouTube and was a couple of years old. It was a home cook and I wonder if she got it from Annabel or someone else? Our weather has cooled significantly now, so the snakes will not likely be much of a problem again until Spring!

So many good things in your kitchen – apart from the snake. I’m so pleased we don’t have dangerous snakes. I love the mugs and the gelatinised bone broth looks amazing. I hate it when I follow recipes and they’re wrong. Such a let down.

Thank you Tania. I will share the pate recipe in the Food menu of my blog, as soon as I get it typed up. We’ve just come home from 5 days away and I’m still catching up with things. It is a very simply flavoured recipe, though, nothing exotic because of my current food elimination diet. It was delicious, though. I actually find the ones with juniper berries and herbs a bit bitter and strong for my taste.